Let's Thank 'Teen Mom' for Decrease in Teen Pregnancies

Here I was, worrying that the popularity of Bristol Palin and shows such as Teen Mom glamorized teen pregnancy, causing teenagers to think getting pregnant will somehow skyrocket them to fame.

Turns out, it might have had quite the opposite effect; it seems to have scared the shit out of them. New government statistics were released yesterday reporting that teen births took a 6% plunge last year, with just 39.1 out of every 1,000 girls aged 15 to 19 becoming moms, making it the second straight year the numbers have fallen.

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Maybe watching these girls go through all of the rough patches with juggling being a mom, school, finances, and relationships actually did sink into teenagers' brains? Perhaps, just maybe, they actually realized that there was more to it than fame and being on the cover of magazines? Watching a teen have morning sickness while trying to take an algebra exam would scare off anyone.

The experts feel that the decline is due to more societal reasons, more specifically the recession, as opposed to popular shows on MTV, while abstinence advocates are tooting their own horns saying that this information is proof that their recently increased funding has had an effect.

While these numbers are something to celebrate, they are missing one key component: pregnancies. The numbers only show births, but with abortions becoming less of a taboo and more accessible in our society, how we continue educating our children on sex based on these findings is irrelevant unless we take the actual pregnancy numbers into consideration. Abstinence definitely didn't play a hand if there are less births because there were more abortions.

Whether we have abstinence, education, recession, or MTV to thank for the decrease in teen pregnancies, at least they've gone down, am I right?